Loyola not panicking over loss to Maryland

Edward Lee, The Baltimore Sun

En route to the school’s first Division I national championship last year, Loyola tied its best start to a season by winning its first 12 contests before falling, 10-9, in overtime to Johns Hopkins. Of course, the team won the next six to take home the title.

The top-ranked Greyhounds won’t get a chance to match or break that record after losing in their third game of the season Saturday, absorbing a 12-10 setback to No. 3 Maryland. But senior long-stick midfielder Scott Ratliff said the players aren’t panicking over their 2-1 record.

“It’s the third game of the season,” he reasoned. “Obviously, this is one we really wanted to win. We wanted to win for the student body and for ourselves. But we’re not going to overreact. It’s the third game of the season, and we have a lot to learn.”

Loyola didn’t appear to play with the same emotion that the Terps had on Saturday, but that may have had something to do with Maryland racing to a 5-1 advantage and never relinquishing the lead after that. And coach Charley Toomey shot down a similar query during the post-game conference.

“Our guys were prepared to play Maryland because they knew the personnel,” he said. “We thought we knew who they were. … We knew it was going to be an emotional game. We didn’t have to worry about the emotional investment my team was going to put into this game. … It wasn’t about who was holding a trophy. It was a big game early in the year.”

The Greyhounds won’t get much time to lick their wounds as UMBC (1-1) is scheduled to visit Ridley Athletic Complex Tuesday night. And that’s just fine with senior midfielder Chris Layne.

“Just having a game on Tuesday night, it’s good to be able to rebound that quickly and kind of get this taste out of our mouth,” said Layne, who led the team in scoring Saturday with three points on two goals and one assist. “That’s what everybody is thinking about right now in that locker room. I know we can learn from this game and fix all the mistakes that happened out there today. I think we can build off it.”

Added Ratliff: You don’t have any time to feel sorry for yourself. You’ve got to turn around and maybe some of those plays you wish you had today, you get a chance in two days to make them again.”